


The Cradle Will Rock

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Stanford Roommates [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas is still an angel, God Rescues Jack From Canon!Verse, God's Much Cooler Here, M/M, Stanford!Castiel, stanford!sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Sam's had a long day, and it just gets weirder when he gets home to find his father-in-law there with a baby.
Relationships: Castiel/Sam Winchester
Series: Stanford Roommates [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1290053
Comments: 16
Kudos: 31





	The Cradle Will Rock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreenTam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenTam/gifts).



> Written for Sastiel Secret Santa Gift Exchange, for @tammirants.

The last thing Sam needed after his day at school was this. He’d gotten a B on his exam in psychology, threatening his straight-A average, his TA had figuratively ripped his rough draft to shreds in his linguistics class, and then his research partner had literally ripped his notes to shreds when they tried to work on a project for their class on LGBT life in the US. Brady had offered to tape them back together when he realized what he’d done and then copy them out for him, but that wasn’t going to help Sam get work done on his part of the project tonight.

It was his day to pick up Claire from kindergarten, and Claire had gotten into a fight with one of the boys who was teasing her for her parents dumping her on an uncle and running away. Claire couldn’t tell him the truth, and coming up with a plausible lie was a lot more work than just punching him in the nose and making him shut up.

The truth was complicated. Claire was living with Castiel and Sam because her parents were on the run from demons and didn’t think that life on the run was any life for a child. When Castiel had taken Jimmy as a host, Jimmy agreed on the condition that Castiel protect his family. Jimmy called in the favor the second time the demons came around. Castiel wasn’t an uncle, but that gave them a plausible lie for why Castiel was looking after Claire despite being in college.

He’d sat Claire down to figure out what to do next time, and they’d agreed on her telling the boy how lucky she was to have uncles who loved her in addition to her parents, and then asking the teacher to separate the two of them as much as possible. This was not a problem that should be solved by punching.

Then he got called out to pick Castiel up from a study group where he was supposed to be tutoring students in ancient Greek. Christi was fine, but one of her classmates who had joined them was a Bible thumping asshole who thought it would be a good idea to challenge the religion major on the actual meaning of the Bible. Castiel in particular was a bad choice for that, but then, Castiel would have to hold back. Castiel had ranted all the way home about the buffoon, and Sam was cranky on behalf of his husband.

So walking into the house to find his father-in-law standing by the TV, watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, was not what Sam needed. Castiel, either, for that matter. “Father? What are you doing here?”

“So, that first time we had a talk about your relationship with Sam and I told you that you’d be on call if I needed a specific type of help?”

Sam remembered that. He also remembered Castiel saying they’d get some warning at least, because Castiel would feel it if a Nephilum had been conceived. From the way Castiel was squinting at Chuck, Sam was reasonably certain he hadn’t felt anything. “What happened?”

Chuck turned around, and now Sam could see the baby in his arms. Adorable – but Sam was no expert on babies but he was pretty sure that was a newborn. He and Castiel were not equipped to handle a newborn baby in the slightest. “This is Jack. He’s the son of Lucifer and a human woman who believed he was the man she was having an affair with. He needs you two.”

“Excuse me.” Castiel cleared his throat. “Did you say the son of Lucifer? How is that possible? Even if Lucifer didn’t utterly loathe humanity, he’s still locked away in his Cage.”

“In this universe, he is. In other universes, where I am much more of a dick, he gets freed. Twice, in this particular one.” Sam bit his tongue. Right now, they needed to focus on Jack, not on the theological implications of a multiverse. “Castiel can tell you what happens to the mothers of Nephilim if their angelic parents don’t stick around to help out.” He didn’t need to. Castiel had already told him that the mothers of the Nephilim nearly always died without help, and sometimes even with. One reason why if they did decide to call on Gabriel to help them produce one, Castiel insisted on being the carrier.

“No other family?” Castiel asked. “Did they blame the baby for the mother’s death?”

“Kelly never told her family she was pregnant. She chose her universe’s version of you to be the baby’s father, when she decided to keep the baby even knowing what would happen to her. Then Lucifer killed you. Dean wanted to kill Jack as soon as they could figure out a way, and Sam…”

“Don’t tell me I agreed with Dean,” Sam interrupted. “I refuse to believe that. Killing a baby? What even for?”

“He blamed the baby for Castiel’s death, and you and Lucifer had such a contentious history that you were scared to death of Jack. You’d have raised him and done your best for him, but I peeked at how it ended, and… Jack deserves so much better. So I brought him here.” Chuck handed the baby to Castiel. “Congratulations, dads.”

Claire, who had been mostly ignoring everything to try to sleep standing up, now grew alert. “I get a baby brother?!”

“I don’t…” Sam started to say, but then he saw the look on Castiel’s face. “Cas, you know we can’t…”

“We can do this, Sam. We’ll figure out a way.” Castiel looked up from staring at Jack, a smile like Sam had never seen on his face. “Sam, his mother chose me to be her baby’s father. Not me, but still, me. How can I refuse her a wish she gave her life for? We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

As Castiel had bloody well known it would, that made Sam cave. “Fine. We can figure this out, I guess. Cas, Jack’s not going to have kindergarten, we’ll need to figure out something for when we’re both in class… do you even know anything about babies?”

“Not much, but I learn quickly.” Castiel cuddled Jack tighter. “Claire, it would be more accurate to say that you get a baby cousin than brother. Father, do you…?” But Chuck was gone. He’d turned off the TV, at least, so no chance of Claire putting up a fight about wanting to watch TV instead of going to bed. Castiel heaved a deep sigh. “I suppose one of us should hold the fort here while the other goes to get at least basic supplies for Jack. Clothes. Diapers. Formula.”

“And since you’re holding Jack, I’m going shopping? Fair enough. Come on, Claire, it’s bedtime.” Sam took Claire’s hand and led her toward her bedroom.

Claire dragged her feet. “I wanna play with my new cousin! Pleeeeease, Sam?”

“You’re tired and ready for bed. Jack’s sleeping, see?” Sam pointed to where Jack was cuddled against Castiel with his eyes scrunched up tight. “You can play with him tomorrow after school.” What, exactly, they would do with Jack while Sam and Cas were in class… both of them had a class at 9:30, and for both of them, attendance was part of the grade. They were going to have to figure this out quickly.

As he led a still-whining Claire, Sam stopped in confusion. He and Castiel didn’t have the world’s biggest apartment, and Sam knew it well. Quite well enough to know that there were only two bedrooms. Claire was sleeping in what had been intended as Dean’s room when they moved in, and Sam and Cas shared the other. There should not be a door between the kitchen and the back bedroom, as it would only lead into their neighbor’s apartment. “Cas?”

Castiel tilted his head, peering closely at the door. “It feels safe enough. Here. Take Jack.” Sam had to let go of Claire’s hand to do it, and Claire wrapped her arms around his leg. Castiel opened the door and stepped through. “It’s perfectly safe, Sam. Father set this up. Come and see.”

Sam shuffled in as best he could with Claire clinging to his leg like an octopus. The crib probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, nor the changing table with the bags of supplies on it. From what Sam could see, there was enough there that they could make it a day or two without having to go shopping. There was also a book with a note on it - _Sam, read this, it’s Babies 101. I’d dictate Nephilim 101 but my scribe’s gone missing._

“Just what I needed, more reading homework,” Sam grumbled, but he was relieved to have some kind of guidance. “How come your name’s not on here?”

“I don’t know. I know Nephilim as well as most angels, but babies? Nothing.” Castiel picked up the book. “I’ll start reading and see if I can come up with a shopping list… do you know where Dean is? Could he come babysit at least while we’re in class?”

“I don’t think so.” Sam looked down at Jack, who had started gurgling. “Dean’s in Massachusetts hunting what he thought was the ghost of a serial killer, and if he doesn’t get them by tomorrow night, someone else is probably gonna die.” Sam shifted Jack enough to hold with one arm while he dug out his phone and dialed. “Hi, Jess? You’re not going to believe this, but do you know who doesn’t have class tomorrow morning and has some idea what to do with a newborn baby?”

“You mean besides me? I babysat all through high school, and my first class isn’t until 1:30. You need a sitter, I can be there… wait a minute.” Sam smothered the laugh as Jess’s brain caught up to what she was saying. “Why do you need someone to babysit a newborn baby?”

“Because… it’s a very long story, but Cas’s dad showed up with one and told us we’re dads now. The kid’s mother’s dying wish was for Castiel to raise her baby.” Sam could picture the look on Jess’s face, and he certainly couldn’t blame her. “I know, but I promise, the kid is ours, no one kidnapped him, and you know Cas’s family. They’ve pulled weirder shit.” For example: sending Castiel to college in the first place.

“Wow. Okay. I’ll come over at 8:30 and you can show me what you’ve got? And then I think Zach’s free tomorrow afternoon if you and Cas need someone after I have to leave…”

“No, Professor Reddy is sick so I have a walk tomorrow afternoon, thanks.” Sam heaved a sigh of relief. Now he just had to figure out how to explain the new room in the apartment, and what if Jack did something he shouldn’t be able to do? “Hopefully we’ll be able to get something more permanent in place before too long.”

“You’d better before finals, or you’re going to go nuts,” Jess teased. “All right. See you tomorrow morning.”

After getting Claire put to bed, Sam dropped into a chair at the table, and Castiel slid him the book. “You know, when Jimmy asked us to take Claire, we’d talked about moving again this summer. Getting a bigger place, so we could still have a room for Dean. We decided against it because Claire is supposed to be temporary, but now we have Jack, and I’ve been talking to Rachel. She’s monitoring the Novaks, making sure they’re taken care of. The demons don’t seem to be letting up.”

“Meaning we’re probably going to have Claire for a while.” Sam flipped the book open to the table of contents. “I don’t suppose you have any family who we could hire as a nanny? We’re going to need help. We’ve got finals coming up!”

“I can’t think who would, and neither do you. Dean won’t abandon the hunt, and please don’t take offense, but I am not letting John Winchester raise my child.” Sam snorted. Yeah, no offense taken. Sam agreed. He was not letting John even know about Jack until he was sure Jack could pass as a normal human child. “It’s possible that we’ll get a visit tomorrow from a cousin I’m not expecting, but barring that, we’re going to have to do this the hard way. What are you going to tell Jess?”

Sam groaned. “I don’t know. Worst case, the truth. She was there last November when you got that demon out of Brady, she knows a little about this, I wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up expecting weird.”

“True.” Castiel pulled out his laptop to start looking online.

Sam set the book down after a couple chapters to rub his eyes. “I don’t know how much more I’m going to be able to retain tonight. I do have an idea.”

“Oh?” Castiel moved his laptop aside. “What’s that?”

“Call Bobby. He might know where we can find a sitter who we can trust to handle any weirdness that comes up with Jack without trying to kill him for being weird. I’ll call after school tomorr–” Sam cut off as his phone rang. “If that’s Bobby, I’m gonna be a little creeped out.”

It wasn’t Bobby. “Look, I know this is going to sound unbelievable, but I got sent here by God. He said you can help me and I can help you. Except he said to call him Chuck?”

 _Not Bobby_ , Sam mouthed to Castiel. “Okay, how about we start with a name?”

“Adam Milligan. That might not mean anything to you, but Chuck said the name John Winchester would. I’m his son.”

“That’s not possible,” Sam said immediately, but his brain immediately started arguing against that idea. It wasn’t like he thought John had been celibate since losing his wife. “Sorry, it’s just… I’m John Winchester’s son, and… sorry. How old are you?”

“Sixteen.” Four or five years younger than Sam. He was willing to believe in this. “Listen, can I come inside? After what Chuck told me, I’m a little scared out here.”

“Wha…?” Sam jumped to his feet and ran for the door to let Adam in. “Hi. Um, what the heck is going on here?”

“I don’t know. I got home from school and Mom was acting weird, saying she’d called John Winchester and I needed to stay inside, even skip school tomorrow. No big deal, it’s finals week and I only had to show up for PE anyway, early start to summer vacation, right?” Adam wrapped his arms around himself. “Then she tells me that if I go outside, there are these things out there that want to kill me for being John Winchester’s son. Until John got there, we had to stay inside where she could put up protection.”

“Did she happen to say what kind of things?” Sam was seeing what Chuck thought he could do for Adam easily enough.

“She didn’t know, but Chuck said they were ghouls. Apparently John killed their father so they were going to kill his son.” Adam shrugged. “I know it sounds unbelievable, but I just got teleported from Minnesota to California in like a second, so…”

“Yeah, no, I believe you, that’s… what Dad does,” Sam reassured him. It did make him wonder exactly how the ghouls had ended up finding Adam instead of Sam or Dean… although maybe they had found Sam and Dean and decided to go for the target that wasn’t a hunter or an angel’s husband. “So you’re here so Castiel and I can protect you from the ghouls?”

“Exactly!” Adam said, relief flooding his face. “Apparently they spread the word… John Winchester must have a ton of enemies.”

“Yeah, that’s… fair,” Sam muttered. “Did Chuck say how you’re supposed to be able to help me and Castiel?”

“Yeah. He covered my tracks, no one will know I’m out here, and you guys need someone to babysit your new kid? I’ll admit I don’t know much about babies, but he said you guys didn’t either and I can learn fast. Mom has to work, but Chuck said I should plan on being out here all summer, that even if John’s enemies find me this is like the safest place I can be.” Adam looked between Sam and Castiel. “He didn’t tell me anything about you other than that Sam had a husband. Not even a name.”

Sam quickly introduced the two. “Castiel’s an angel. There’s not a whole lot on Earth he can’t protect you from, and he can take you home any time you want to go see your mom. Or bring her out here to see you, around her work schedule, which is probably safer anyway. What does she do?”

“She’s a nurse. Weird hours, long shifts, she had to raise me by herself so I barely got to see her. Look, I don’t know what you’re expecting here, but I don’t really consider John Winchester family. He’s my father, but he’s not my dad. Okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you a bit, considering I’d never heard of you until you called. John’s… not exactly a good dad for the sons he did raise. If you want to try to be brothers, I’m willing to give it a shot, but you’re here for protection and to babysit my son. Speaking of, my friend Jess is coming over tomorrow morning because we didn’t know you were coming. Get her to give you the crash course on babies. You, me, and Cas will just have to figure out Nephilum stuff as we go.”

“What’s a Nephilum?”

“The child of a human and an angel. I’m an angel,” Castiel explained. Sam had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the look on Adam’s face as he tried to figure out what the hell he was hearing. “We are not Jack’s biological parents, but Chuck determined that we were acceptable adoptive parents for the child.”

The confusion cleared up quickly. “Fair enough, then. Can I meet him?”

“Sure. Come on.” Sam led Adam to meet his new charge. “Looks like he’s sleeping, and one thing I know about babies is that sleep is precious, but there he is.”


End file.
